Rĕ'tar-dā'tion, n.
(Synop., § 130), n. [Lat. retardatio, Fr. retardation, Sp. retardacion, It. ritardazione. See supra.]
Sense 1. The act of retarding; hinderance; the act of delaying; as, the retardation of the motion of a ship. “The needless joltings and retardations of our fluent motion.” De Quincey.
Sense 2. That which retards; hinderance; obstacle; obstruction. “Steep hills, sloughs, and other terrestrial retardations.” W. Scott.
Sense 3. (Mus.) The keeping back of an approaching consonant chord by prolonging one or more tones of a previous chord into the intermediate chord which follows.